VII 



DEMOCEACY AND LITEEATUEE 



THE one new thing in the world in our day is 

 democracy, the coming forward of the people, 

 and that which has grown out of it, or which goes 

 along with it, — science, free inquiry, the indus- 

 trial system, the humanitarian spirit. The old and 

 past world from which we inherit our literary tastes 

 and standards was characterized by a condition of 

 things quite dififerent, — the supremacy of the few, 

 the leadership of the hero, the strong man, — the 

 picturesque age that gave us art, theology, philoso- 

 phy, and the great epic poems. It was the youth 

 of the race. Mankind seems now fast nearing its 

 majority. The bewitching, the delusive, the un- 

 reasoning, pathetic time of youth is past. What 

 the man loses and what he gains in passing from 

 youth to manhood the race has lost and has gained 

 in passing from the age of myth to the age of science. 

 A charm, an innocence, a susceptibility, a credulity, 

 and many other things are gone ; a seriousness, a 

 reasonableness, a width of outlook, power to deal 

 with real things, sanity, and self-control, have come. 

 Youth is cruel, age is kind and considerate. All 

 forms, ceremonies, titles, all conferred dignities and 



